WNC 392

Ruben continued his explanation in a gentle voice.

“Sierren’s Divine Objects are handled quite strictly, as they only require Divine Blood once every two to three years, provided there are no other issues. In practice, even for the simple act of touching the Divine Object with blood, there are some formalities, like fasting the day before or praying for two to three hours.”

“…Yes.”

“But Yulan’s Divine Objects, you said they need to be blown into once a day, or even morning and night. When they say the history of the Sierran Empire is a thousand years, it means Yulan has also maintained a thousand-year dynasty. The rituals have been simplified and lightened to the point where young royals might even blow into them as toys.”

“…….”

“Even so, a Divine Object is a Divine Object. The Sun God advised me to use the power of a Divine Object to solve problems, but, well… I don’t think I can use it in the form of blowing a flute. I requested it because having it is better than not having it at all.”

I see. Come to think of it, Rubel never once mentioned returning the Divine Object in its complete form. He only asked to borrow the Divine Object, offered to pay, and used it as an excuse to return. That’s how he appeased Yulan’s princess and prince.

The Sun God had advised me to use wandering Divine Objects to solve problems, saying, “How will you regulate the Mana Concentration of the Sierran Empire if you lose the power of Sierren’s Divine Object right now?”

After we use Yulan’s Divine Object to defeat the Ninth God, will Yulan’s seas be peaceful? My heart felt heavy. I let out a sigh and rested my chin on the child’s shoulder. The cloak he wore was permeated with a cold energy, chilling my cheek.

“…Then, Yulan’s people.”

“We need to check if there are other ways to solve the problem besides using the Divine Object. The Nereids sang lullabies mimicking the sound of Yulan’s Divine Object, didn’t they? If my prediction is correct, we should be able to sink that Golden Turtle into the deep sea…”

“…Huh?”

“I’m thinking of finding a way to physically sink the divine remnants. First, I’ll need to find out why the Nereids dislike the first human before I can approach the problem.”

…He was already considering how to care for the people of another country.

Seeing Rubel treat Yulan’s royal siblings so coldly had made me jump to conclusions. I felt foolish. My shoulders slumped. Then, Rubel gently rubbed his cheek against mine. Only then did he realize how closely I had pressed myself against his back while I was lost in thought, and he was startled.

“My apol-”

“I don’t want you to.”

“…Yes?”

“Don’t apologize.”

“…Ah. Um… Yes.”

I was left speechless by the surprisingly cold tone.

While I stood there, stunned and unable to speak, the horse carrying us walked steadily along. I was preoccupied, not knowing why Rubel was upset.

Then, suddenly, I felt the gaze of the siblings stopped ahead and looked around.

How far had we come?

On a hill overlooking the Royal Castle stood a white building, whether it was a tower or a lighthouse, I couldn’t tell. It was about five stories high. It was unusually tall for a Yulan building, but like other Yulan structures, the very top was round and gently sloped.

I dismounted first and offered my hand to Rubel to help him down. Rubel didn’t look at me. Instead, with a cold expression, he looked up at the building and asked the siblings as if confirming, “The Tourmaline Lighthouse?”

“You know of it.”

“There is only one lighthouse in Yulan built away from the coast… Did you place the Divine Object here? Without a lighthouse keeper?”

“We needed a place that could be completely hidden from the eyes of others. Yulan often experiences dense sea fog… This was the only place that wasn’t the Royal Castle, was easily accessible, and had good ventilation year-round.”

While the prince explained, the princess unlocked the door several times. After undoing about four fist-sized locks, the heavy door finally opened. I helped the princess pull the heavy door.

Inside the dim interior, several Magic Artifacts emitting a soft light were embedded like Night-Illuminating Pearls. It smelled musty from being so tightly sealed. Still, it seemed they had visited and cared for it occasionally, as there wasn’t much dust.

The princess glanced at Rubel hesitantly, so I told her to speak, but she said something unexpected.

“Your Highness… can you not hear anything?”

“…What? Yes.”

“Really? I had hoped, but…”

“Hear what?”

Hearing Rubel’s question, the First Princess placed her hand on her chest. Then, she took a deep breath and exhaled. Beside her, the Second Prince also idly brushed his chest. He had a wistful expression, as if he had encountered something he missed dearly.

“When we are close to the Divine Object… we feel a ‘zing’ here in our chests. Like how your body vibrates when you listen to loud music up close. Since Your Highness has Divine Blood… we thought you might notice it immediately upon entering.”

Hearing this, Rubel asked without hesitation, “How close do you have to be to feel it?”

“Roughly… within about two rooms. That’s why we came here. If Mother wants to find the Divine Object, she could find it just by walking through the corridors of the Royal Castle.”

“Is the King of Yulan… currently incapacitated?”

“That, that’s not it. It’s not.”

Despite the potentially sensitive question, she answered without hesitation. The princess also replied without much reservation. I felt concerned and even pitiful for these naive, immature children.

Do they see Rubel as a reliable older brother? Even though foreign royalty must prioritize their own country’s interests.

Then again, where else could they discuss the royal family’s secrets and matters concerning the Divine Object? They must have suffered and pondered it amongst themselves. I trusted that Rubel would not treat the children too harshly. I casually looked around.

A familiar scene caught my eye.

It was a seascape, identical to the one I had seen at Marquis Murray’s mansion.

A blue sea, a black sea, a red sea, a golden sea.

I now remembered seeing similar paintings in the Yulan folklore book I had looked through with Rubel before. The blue one was daytime, the black one was night. The red one would be the moment of sunset… and the golden one was the moment the Golden Turtle surfaced. The entire shimmering water was painted in gold.

The princess approached me and lifted the painting of the golden sea. The frame, not much larger than five spans wide, was easily held by a young girl who hadn’t trained in martial arts. The princess, placing her hand on a blank wall, mumbled something, and a vault door appeared.

“After giving birth to Elijah… Mother started collecting things, you know. She kept collecting black jewels and winged beasts. But…”

She glanced away as if aware of me, her gaze distant. While I looked at the painting, I listened to the princess’s voice as if it were distant.

In the spot where my gaze had shifted, she entered a password, recited a spell, and entered a password again. After repeating this three times, the princess reached deep into the wall and took something out.

“…This is what our Divine Object looks like. It’s amazing that Mother hasn’t looked for the Divine Object even once since she became pregnant with Elijah.”

It was a black flute.

Even if carved from obsidian, it would be difficult to achieve such a lustrous black sheen.

The flute had smooth seams; the mouthpiece was narrow and thin, but it extended in a straight line to the grip and the sound outlet. There were a total of five finger holes, which were so small that they seemed like they could be covered even by very small fingers.

I thought it would be longer, as they said it was as long as a human forearm, but it was only as long as the forearm of a ten-year-old child. It looked very small and light. Perhaps it was because I had seen too many precious things overflowing with Divine Power in a short time, but the Divine Power emanating from the flute felt shallow and faint.

Is our business in Yulan finished now that I’ve received this flute?

However, the princess hesitated to hand the flute directly to Rubel. Rubel didn’t say a word to rush her. He simply stood there with a benevolent expression, as if he understood everything. After a few shivers and flinches, and much hesitation, the girl spoke weakly, “…Before I hand this over.”

“Yes.”

Is she going to ask for the contract?

But she said something else. “…I want to blow it one last time.”

“…Hmm?”

“Yulan’s Divine Object… is a lullaby that soothes the sea spirits. But for a while, I couldn’t blow it because of Elijah… so I think the spirits must be very angry.”

“……..”

“If you two are here, I won’t be as scared… I think we can go to the beach. Somewhere far from the Royal Castle, somewhere Elijah won’t hurt as much. Just… just one more time.”

There was no way to refuse such a desperate plea. We were the ones borrowing the Divine Object, and we had no intention of snatching it.

Rubel pondered with a serious expression for a moment, then checked my face and nodded. “Yes. Then… we will do so. Will the performance take long?”

“Usually… it takes ten to fifteen minutes. But… the way to the beach is a bit…”

“Is it a distance you can return within a day? Starting from here?”

“Yes! We have to be back at the palace by tomorrow morning, so we can return within that time.”

“Very well. Lead the way.”

The princess closed the vault door in the reverse order of how she had opened it. As I watched her hang the frame back on the wall, which had returned to being a plain wall instead of a vault door, a question suddenly arose.

“Why did you place it behind the golden sea?”

“Yes?”

“Of the four paintings… is there a specific reason you stored the Divine Object behind that particular one?”

“Uh… that’s… because gold is the color of the ancient spirits.”

“Ancient spirits?”

This seemed to be information Rubel didn’t know. The child’s eyes widened slightly. In the folklore book we had looked through together, gold was referred to as the color of the Golden Turtle. The princess answered in a casual tone and led the way out of the lighthouse.

“Since it’s a flute to soothe spirits, I wanted to keep it in a vault behind the sea guarded by ancient spirits. I felt sorry that I couldn’t blow the flute…”

“What do the other colored paintings represent?”

“Blue is day, black is night, and red is love. That’s why Yulan’s Divine Object might be black. It’s like giving the ancient spirits peaceful night and sleep.”

Click, clack. I watched the princess firmly lock the lighthouse door again.

I couldn’t know how many vaults were inside or what other treasures were kept there. I could only vaguely guess that these two were using the Tourmaline Lighthouse as their personal storage.